Local real estate firm Ridgemont Properties wants to rehabilitate a vacant building on Broadway downtown into office space for startups.

The firm has submitted plans to the city to renovate a two-story, 39,600-square foot building at 900 Broadway into office lofts, according to the agenda of the Historic and Design Review Commission, which will consider the project on Wednesday.

“We think that there’s a lot of pent-up demand in office product on that portion of Broadway,” said C. Trebes Sasser Jr., the firm’s vice president. The office space will complement all the apartment complexes that are being built around Broadway, he said.

Ridgemont’s plans would add momentum to a recent revitalization of the stretch of Broadway between downtown and the Pearl, which is now occupied mostly by vacant buildings and parking lots. Local developer Hixon Properties announced earlier this month that it is partnering with the Cavender auto family to build a six-story office building about a block away from Ridgemont’s property. Further south, GrayStreet Partners is renovating the Light building into office space.

Three quarters of a mile north on Broadway, Pearl developer Silver Ventures plans to build a 10-story office tower where local credit union Credit Human will relocate its headquarters.

Ridgemont expects to finish renovating the office space by the middle of next year, Sasser said.

“We like that we’re going to be delivering before” the other office projects that are planned for the area, he said.

The firm purchased the 0.31-acre property in September for undisclosed price, county property records show. The Bexar Appraisal District assessed the property at $970,000 this year.

Ridgemont is pursuing state and federal historic tax credits for the project, Sasser said. The firm plans to clean up the building, create a new entrance on its north side and repave its parking lot, according to the HDRC agenda. The building was constructed around 1925 as an automobile dealership, but it became a sporting goods store in the mid-1970s and later served as an antiques store.

Construction work is expected to begin December 1 to last for five months, according to records from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. The total cost is estimated at $1.5 million.